May 21, 2009

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Here's the text of the Republican resolution on Pelosi, to be introduced by Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) during the first series of votes today.

GOP staffers say it's likely to be ruled out of order by the majority through the chair.

Resolved, That—

(1) a Select Subcommittee of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence shall be established to review and verify the accuracy of the Speaker’s aforementioned public statements;

(2) the Select Subcommittee shall be comprised of four members of the full committee, two appointed by the chairman of the committee and two by its ranking minority member;

(3) The subcommittee shall have the same powers to obtain testimony and documents pursuant to subpoena authorized under clause 2(m) of Rule XI of the Rules of the House; and,

(4) the Select Subcommittee report its findings and recommendations to the House not later than sixty calendar days after adoption of this resolution.

[Rest of text after the jump]

RESOLUTION

Raising a question of the privileges of the House.

Whereas the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, a Representative from California, served from 1997 to 2002 as Ranking Democratic Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence;

Whereas Representative Pelosi currently serves as Speaker of the House, a position of considerable power and influence within the Congress;

Whereas title 3 of the United States Code designates the Speaker of the House as third in line of succession to the Presidency;

Whereas Speaker Pelosi has publicly challenged the truthfulness of what she and other congressional leaders were told by Central Intelligence Agency officials about the agency’s use of enhanced interrogation techniques on suspected terrorists;

Whereas in an MSNBC interview on February 25, 2009, Speaker Pelosi stated, “I can say flat-out, they never told us that these enhanced interrogation techniques were being used”;

Whereas, Speaker Pelosi’s public statements allege a sustained pattern of deception by government intelligence officers charged by law with informing Congress about the agency’s activities;

Whereas when asked at a press conference on May 15, 2009 widely reported by the news media, “Madame Speaker, just to be clear, you’re accusing the CIA of lying to you in September?” Speaker Pelosi stated, “Yes”;

Whereas during the same press conference the Speaker subsequently stated, “So yes, I’m saying they are misleading, the CIA was misleading the Congress” and further, “they mislead us all the time” and “they misrepresented every step of the way”;

Whereas in a memorandum to CIA employees released publicly on May 15, 2009, Leon Panetta, the CIA Director, stated, “It is not our policy or practice to mislead Congress. That is against our laws and our values. As the Agency indicated previously in response to Congressional inquiries, our contemporaneous records from September 2002 indicate that CIA officers briefed truthfully on the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, describing the enhanced interrogation techniques that had been employed”;

Whereas national and international media reports on this controversy have damaged the reputation of the House by raising questions about whether the effectiveness of congressional oversight may have been undermined through false or misleading statements by intelligence officials;

Whereas in order to safeguard the reputation of the House it is imperative to reconcile as soon as possible the aforementioned contradictory statements by Speaker Pelosi and CIA Director Panetta: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That—

(1) a Select Subcommittee of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence shall be established to review and verify the accuracy of the Speaker’s aforementioned public statements;

(2) the Select Subcommittee shall be comprised of four members of the full committee, two appointed by the chairman of the committee and two by its ranking minority member;

(3) The subcommittee shall have the same powers to obtain testimony and documents ppursuant to subpoena authorized under clause 2(m) of Rule XI of the Rules of the House; and,

(4) the Select Subcommittee report its findings and recommendations to the House not later than sixty calendar days after adoption of this tresolution.

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Porter Goss, the former GOP Congressman who was in the room with Nancy Pelosi during their 2002 CIA briefing on interrogations, is declining through a spokesperson to say whether the two of them were told that enhanced interrogation techniques had been used.
Goss? reticence raises still another round of questions about the accuracy of the recently-released CIA documents purporting to detail what members of Congress were told about the use of torture.
The CIA documents say that Pelosi and Goss, then the House Intelligence Committee chair, were given a description on September 4th, 2002, of the enhanced interrogation techniques that ?had been employed? during interrogations. Republicans have seized on this as proof that Pelosi was told that torture, including waterboarding, was already in use, which she has denied.
I asked a spokesperson for Goss if he would confirm that he and Pelosi had been informed of the use of torture. Goss was out of town, so it took her a while to get back to me, but now she has: She declined to answer the question, saying that Goss would not elaborate beyond what he said in a Washington Post Op ed last month.
In that carefully-worded piece, Goss did not write he had been told that torture had been used. Rather, he merely wrote that members of Congress were told that the CIA was ?holding and interrogating? suspects and that EITs had been developed. He said that members should have ?understood? that EITs ?were to actually be employed? in the future, without saying that they were even told this, let alone told that they?d been used.
This does not contradict Pelosi?s claim that she was only told that such techniques were legal, not that they had been or certainly would be used ? the crux of the GOP?s attack.
So I asked Goss? spokesperson directly: Were he and Pelosi informed that EITs, including waterboarding, had already been used, and were they given a rough sense that Abu Zubaydah had been waterboarded more than 83 times the previous month?
Her answer: ?He believes that his Op-ed makes it very clear and is not engaging beyond it at this time.? She declined repeated requests to elaborate.
So here?s where we are: The Republican Congressman who was in the room during Pelosi?s briefing won?t directly vouch for the accuracy of the CIA?s claim that she had been briefed on the use of torture.
http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/torture/porter-goss-wont-say-whether-he-and-pelosi-were-told-about-use-of-torture/

So Porter Goss, a Republican, was with Pelosi during the briefing in question and his account more or less agrees with hers? So Pelosi wasn't lying? Well, isn't that surprising. And the result of all this hoopla could be the truth commision Pelosi has wanted all along? Golly Republicans, you must feel really stupid right about now.

Oh the outrage over what she knew or didn't know about torture, yet no outrage over those who approved and carried out the acts? lol...what a joke the GOP has become; they are transparently political at all times.

To the GOP troll pretending to be Hashee - shouldn't you be meeting Larry Craig in an airport somewhere? Really, we know you think Pelosi is a GILF, but you don't need to share your sexual predelictions with us.

1). Linda, I am almost in agreement with you, but your statement would have to read as follows: The Democrats and "GOP still don't get it. They are time wasters, big wasteful spenders, and petty namecalling talkers, but wallow in their own lies and coverups." for me to be 100% in agreement with you.
2). Nancy has been unusally quiet this week. Did she get the message from President Obama that she is expendable, and she needs to remember that he is President, not her...

ROTFLMAO!
They can't help themselves, can they? Republicans are disliked by huge swaths of the American public, and they're going to openly gun for the Speaker? Way to drum up that ever shrinking base, dudes.

GOP big wasteful spenders??? Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black? Who promised to rid of earmarks in the bills? Dem. Obama?
Who created the budget surpluses in the 90's by forcing Clinton to accept it? Who reduced government spending 10% in the 80's? Who is the head of all the reckless spending now as we are inching closer to a $2 trillion deficit? Who is trying to cut programs that Bush wanted to cut? Exactly.

GOP big wasteful spenders??? Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black? Who promised to rid of earmarks in the bills? Dem. Obama?
Who created the budget surpluses in the 90's by forcing Clinton to accept it? Who reduced government spending 10% in the 80's? Who is the head of all the reckless spending now as we are inching closer to a $2 trillion deficit? Who is trying to cut programs that Bush wanted to cut? Exactly.

This is the same congressman that infamously and oddly objected to the no-chimps-as pets bill earlier this year. He said in front of congress, "I don't own a monkey." Ron Bishop has one of the safest seats in Congress (I live in UT, but not his district), so I think his peers put him up to proposing stupid resolutions just to see if he'll do it. He's like the nerd in high school that would snort Jello through a straw just to hang out with the cool kids. It would be a good thing for the Dems if Pelosi had to step down, but there are much more important things on the congressional agenda than forming bi-partisian committees to investigate the accuracy of politician's statements made in public.

INVESTIGATE CHENEY: Former Vice President Dick Cheney intervened in CIA Inspector General John Helgerson's investigation into the agency's use of torture against "high-value" detainees, but the watchdog was still able to prepare a report that concluded the interrogation program violated some provisions of the International Convention Against Torture. ==== READ MORE http://www.truthout.org/052209R